Minimum Wage Increase (US)

I really hope this passes. The current minimum wage of $5.15/hour
isn't enough to survive on; and definitely not enough to support
anybody else. So not only do these minimum wage earners live in
horrible conditions, but they also live alone because nobody can
love someone that doesn't have a good income. Jeez! It's like
$800/month. Ridiculous.

Oh, and as someone who earns an hourly wage, I also think that
every hourly worker should get the same increase.. If a minimum wage
burger flipper at Taco John's gets a $2.10/hour increase, so should I.
Salary workers, of course, stay the same. I doubt that many people
on salary earn less than $30k/year. That's upper-middle class, man!
We work just as hard as you; we deserve equality! Quit holding us down!

I know nothing of economics, but if giving every hourly worker a $2/hour
increase somehow weakens the dollar or has no impact whatsoever
because everybody (except salary workers) is still making, relatively,
the same amount of cash.. yeah, I don't think that should happen, either.

Maybe minimum wage earners should get a better job? Just because some schmuck can't support his family doesn't mean businesses should be forced to pay high school students 8 dollars an hour for their services.

Maybe minimum wage earners should get a better job? Just because some schmuck can't support his family doesn't mean businesses should be forced to pay high school students 8 dollars an hour for their services.

This increase has nothing to do with High School students. It
has to do with the poor folk among us, you snob. High School
students are even exempt from the Federal Minimum Wage Law
(for 3 months or something), anyway; so employers *can* pay
them less than minimum wage if they want.

30K/year is nowhere near upper middle class, duder. You'd be hard pressed to afford a non-ghetto studio apartment on that salary around here. Hell, I make way more than that, and I can barely afford my 1BR apartment.

>> 30K/year is nowhere near upper middle class, duder. You'd be hard pressed to afford a non-ghetto studio apartment on that salary around here. Hell, I make way more than that, and I can barely afford my 1BR apartment.

Of course according to the article Michigan is the only state confused about giving people the extra money. I'm depressed. Michigan is apparently one of the poorest states right now; at least you can see it around here (a police station nearby where my sister works closed, along with like, five restaurants and a few other places. I'm pretty sure that a grocery store has closed around here too). The strange thing is, for every building that closes down they seeem to build another bank.

If there wasn't a more annoying thing in the universe! It's as if people here ignore how much money they don't have and pretend to be rich.

Anyway, I hope this gives others some insight as to why the Michigan government really likes to keep its money.

30K/year is nowhere near upper middle class, duder. You'd be hard pressed to afford a non-ghetto studio apartment on that salary around here. Hell, I make way more than that, and I can barely afford my 1BR apartment.

Cheez, as you know, I grew up in the projects. The projects of
Salt Lake City, Utah. Yeah, they exist. To me, $30k/year is wealth,
man. I was raised on about $5k/year + foodstamps, brotha.

Instead of war on poverty they got a war on drugs so the police can
bother me -Tupac.

Again, I'm not an expert in economics, but I hope someone can
get what I"m saying.

The dollar is getting weaker. It happens over the years. Inflation
or something. $800 today isn't as much as it was in '97, which
was the last time the federal minimum wage was increased.

But while other people are making more and more money, the people
that earn that minimum wage are becoming more and more poor because
their money isn't stretching as far as it used to. So it really needs to
be increased.

Oh, and you guys need to keep in mind that this is the Federal
Minimum Wage. A lot of states already have their own minimum
wage laws; and a lot of them are even higher than what the new
Federal Minimum Wage would be ($7.25/hour) if this passes.

Also, In Ireland, it's legal (and done a lot), to pay under 18 year olds a lot less than the min wage! I used work in a small store when I was 17, and got €5.13 (I think), per hour (6.54832 USD apparently), while the min was at that time a few euro above that. When i turned 18, I got the full min wage, but meh.

I'm in Scotland for the summer, and there are some people I work with who are under 18, but they get paid the same as I do at the moment (min wage I think), which to be honest, with my past experiences with establishments, I was surprised (in no way unbitter), about. however, I think the cafe where I'm working is alone in that respect, cause nobody in their right mind would like to work where I do! I'm getting out asap! They, the under 18 year olds, would have been getting three-med-high-something if they were working anywhere else, but the cafe is desperate for staff ... so I guess that's why they pay.

but they also live alone because nobody can
love someone that doesn't have a good income.

LMAO, that's great, hahahaha.

Hell, I make way more than that

I'd totally like to live with you and love you...but the amount of love you receive is proportional to my weekly allowance (expressed in USD and BEER).

I work part-time and go to college.

haha LOSER!

(el taco losre')

A lot of states already have their own minimum
wage laws; and a lot of them are even higher than what the new
Federal Minimum Wage would be ($7.25/hour) if this passes.

Yeah, I'm pretty sure that Maine is already at or very near $7...and we're white trash! We're the whitest state in the country.

But while other people are making more and more money, the people
that earn that minimum wage are becoming more and more poor because
their money isn't stretching as far as it used to. So it really needs to
be increased.

I do agree with this. The dollar will, of course, eventually 'weaken' again ; it's not like there's any way to to permanently change how far the dollar can go...it's a vicious cycle.